Author: TechBrunch
Season 7 of “Black Mirror” premiered on Thursday, showing off a new mobile game connected to one of the episodes. The game, titled “Thronglets” from Netflix's Night School Studio, serves as a companion for an episode called “Plaything.” Players interact with virtual yellow pets and strive to keep them alive. If a player succeeds in caring for a pet, the creature will replicate and become more difficult to meet its needs. Creatures can also collect resources, develop technology, explore new areas, unlock tools and buildings for faster progress. At first it may resemble an innocent game like Taishi, but the…
There has been a huge pushback from artists regarding the surge in AI design tools and the content used to train generative models, but even so, companies that make software for creative work are to incorporate AI into their toolkits. This is a signal of how quickly AI has become important. Regardless of what the customer says, it is clear that graphic design software makers will not be able to survive without implementing some form of AI. The latest to double that strategy is Canva. The company said Thursday it is adding new AI features to its platform, including AI…
Symphonic Capital announced today in a blog post that it has raised $13.5 million for its initial fund to invest in early-stage businesses. Sidney Thomas set up the company in 2022 after leaving Charles Hudson's Parker's Venture. Thomas said her fund will focus on founders outside the bay, who are building healthcare and financial services. The check size is approximately $250,000. In a blog post, the company wrote, “Everyone should have reliable healthcare and financial freedom, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity,” and wrote that they would “want to partner with founders who are trying to build a more equitable…
WhatsApp has announced numerous new updates across chat, calls and channels designed to enhance user messaging and call experiences as they continue to compete with popular services such as Telegram and Discord. One of the most notable additions is the “online” indicator that appears at the top of the group chat, indicating how many people are currently chatting. Another new group chat feature allows you to highlight specific notifications. This is because you can select “Highlight” using the newly added Notify for setting to receive all notifications by limiting notifications for messages from saved contacts or from All. Another feature…
On Wednesday, President Trump ordered a federal investigation into Crisk Rebs, former director of the US cybersecurity agency CISA. In a new executive order, Trump has directed the U.S. Attorney General to investigate the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the CISA, and Krebs, who was fired by the Trump administration shortly after publicly revealing Trump's false claims during the presidential election. This order also revokes Krebs' security clearance. The executive order, among other things, claims that Krebs “mistakes denied the 2020 elections consolidated and stolen. Trump and his associates have long argued for rigging the vote during the 2020…
Anything you can hear in the other quarter will seem to be linked to the environment and society. At least that's one conclusion drawn from the news that European expert VC Revent has shut down its 100 million euro ($109 million) Fund II to invest in “planetary and social health” startups. Released from Berlin by Otto Billunbaum and Lauren Lenz in 2021, Levent's paper was (and remains) that it might be very valuable as the most ambitious entrepreneurs want to build companies that promote social progress. Something high-minded. Certainly, geopolitics has moved in a way that suggests that it may…
In recent years, the number of “operator VCS” (former founder became VCS). This is common in the United States, where the majority of VCs are former founders. The opposite is true in Europe as well. In Europe, most of it comes from banks and finance. Recent examples in Europe include the Wise Founder Taavet Hinrikus, the Glovo Founder Oscar Pierre (Yellow Fund), and the Pitch Founder Christian Reber. After coming to Salesforce with Mulesoft for a cool $6.5 billion in 2018, founder Ross Mason first set up Dig Ventures as Family Office and later moved to VC. He did this…
Meta Whistlebower Sarah Wyliliams, former director of Facebook's global public policy and author of the recently released Tell-All book, “The Careless People,” told the senator in testimony Wednesday that Meta actively targeted advertising based on emotional states. This claim was first documented by Wynn-Williams in her book. Her book is about her time on Facebook and the ability of tech companies around the world to do harm, documenting “carelessness” from top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg. The focus of Wednesday's hearing is primarily on dealings with China and it may have misrepresented the plan at…
Meta is beginning to test new features in threads that allow users to follow the same creators they follow on X. “We are currently testing ways to find and follow creators from other platforms on the thread, making it easy to connect with people and conversations that are important to you.” Image credits: Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch In recent years, several creators have left X due to competing platforms such as Threads and Blueski, but have lost massive followers in the process. Meanwhile, some users reportedly struggle to create the same community they've cultivated for years on X. This feature is intended…
According to new court documents, NSO group's infamous spyware Pegasus targeted 1,223 WhatsApp users in 51 different countries during its 2019 hacking campaign. The document was published Friday as part of a lawsuit filed by meta-owned WhatsApp against NSO groups in 2019, accusing surveillance technology manufacturers of targeting chat app vulnerabilities to more than hundreds of users, including more than 100 human rights activists, journalists and “other members of civil society.” At the time, WhatsApp said it had targeted around 1,400 users. The exhibit currently featured in court documents shows exactly in which country 1,223 specific victims were placed when…